Spotlight on Senior Services in West Oakland and Emeryville
EBALDC works hard to provide safe, welcoming, and supportive community living for East Bay elders. These buildings offer safe and comfortable apartment homes designated for seniors, including amenities like a shared communal kitchen and lounge areas, as well as community gardens where residents can grow fruits and veggies right in their complex. But what really sets these EBALDC residences apart is efforts by staff to ensure a strong sense of community.
In West Oakland, EBALDC’s San Pablo Hotel has been designated a residence for seniors since the mid 1990s and has been an integral part of EBALDC’s Healthy Neighborhoods approach since its inception in 2012. Back then, EBALDC laid the early groundwork for engagement with resident leaders as well as collaboration with senior residents and local neighbors and community groups, including St. Mary’s Center (whose clients were and are homeless and under-housed seniors on SSI) and East Bay Housing Organization (EBHO), with which we continue to collaborate.
Today, Nakia Lipsey, Resident Services Coordinator at San Pablo Hotel, works to ensure residents get what they need—responding to residents’ concerns about safe and secure housing, assistance with benefits applications, and other concerns. She also does what she can to ensure a personal touch with her residents. For example, she makes birthday cards for residents throughout the year, and every 4th month, ensures that a shared birthday celebration is observed. “We care about our residents, and [we want to] make the residents feel as if someone was thinking enough about them to give a celebration as well as a birthday card.” With a background in property management and working as a professional caregiver for seniors, Nakia understands the importance of keeping older folks socially active and, as part of her regular routine, walks the upper resident floors to check up on how residents are doing.
A recent San Pablo Hotel birthday celebration
Nakia adds that “At San Pablo Hotel, we also have Karaoke Night twice a month where the residents and staff get on the mic and sing songs, laugh, and just enjoy each other’s company. The residents really get into the singing and dancing.”
Residents enjoying a recent SPH karaoke night.
SPH residents enjoying a trip to the Oakland Zoo
Occasionally, seniors even go on field trips! For example, earlier in the spring, Nakia had arranged for a group of senior residents from San Pablo to visit the Oakland Zoo. “This was a special trip because most of the residents had never been to the zoo or it had been years since they last visited the zoo.” On September 28th, another group of seniors from San Pablo Hotel attended the 20th Annual Healthy Living Festival at the Oakland Zoo. Says Nakia, “Residents enjoyed the day out surrounded by many educational booths and information about senior services available in Oakland. A healthy lunch was provided, as well as dancing and activities where residents were able to win prizes.”
At Avalon in Emeryville, Resident Services Coordinator Craig Richardson says “it feels good to work with folks who can appreciate you. I can understand how people can get confused about things sometimes. As a senior myself, I understand how comforting it can be to know there’s somebody you can talk to who can help you out or to just be there for you.” Craig also plans events for seniors, often in coordination with the resident leaders. These events include Bingocize, a fun and interactive evidence-based health promotion program combining 10 weeks of physical activity and nutrition with the game of bingo, put on by Alameda County Public Health Department.
Avalon residents enjoying Bingocize.
Says Craig, “Residents also love gathering together for a meal and good company–for holidays like Fathers’ Day, Mothers’ Day or the 4th of July.”
These events also include a recent Thanksgiving/International Cuisine dinner to give thanks and share a delicious cross-cultural meal, including comfort foods like Southern fried chicken, Eritrean bread and lentils, Chinese noodles, Japanese curry, and a Puerto Rican rice dish.
Afterwards, one resident leader (and EBALDC Board member), Beth Rosales, conveyed her thanks to Avalon’s Resident Services staff, including Craig and Resident Services Manager Monique Kennedy: “[T]hank you, on behalf of all of us here at Avalon, for the wonderful support that you’ve given us throughout these years. You really make it happen—for us to have a community, a village, and a home.”
EBALDC has five residential properties designated for senior housing: Avalon, Lion Creek Crossings (senior building), San Pablo Hotel, Noble Tower, and Jack London Gateway Senior Housing.
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